‘Librum furatur: per collum penderetur.”
Translation:
“He who steals a book: let him be hanged by the neck.”
This is from a little book of Book Curses by Eleanor Baker. Published by the Bodleian Library. It’s a fun little book of curses pertaining to books from ancient to more current times. I only have a few books this might apply to.
Sorry I missed everyone last weekend. I was gearing up for a three day photo excursion on Bruny Island, south of here abiut 45 minutes to the 15 minute ferry to get across. There were two originally signed up with the photographer leading us through night photography (I got the southern cross in the middle of the milky way, I think), sunrises, sunsets, rocky seascapes and a beautiful extensive garden full of birds endemic to Tasmania. Photos to come. The good news about this trip is the other participant dropped out so it was just two of us so had some high level photography tuition to myself. The bad news is it was very cold, down to about 3 degrees C for night skies (37.4 F). We also did a tourist three hour boat ride out into the Tasman sea around the cliff faces. We saw albatross, dolphins every where and many fur seals. But the last hour was pretty high speed and very, very cold. But great fun.
One of the photos taken from the boat on my phone of the tall cliffs of dolomite rock. Lots of caves along these cliffs.
I read the book Rebecca by Daphne du Maurier for July’s book group discussion. We do a classic each year. I had read it before but not for years.
Here is the description of it from Deep Seek.
Rebecca is a classic Gothic novel written by Daphne du Maurier and first published in 1938. It is a haunting tale of love, jealousy, and secrets, set against the atmospheric backdrop of the English countryside.
Plot Summary
The story is narrated by an unnamed young woman who works as a companion to a wealthy American woman. While in Monte Carlo, she meets the wealthy and enigmatic widower Maxim de Winter, the owner of the grand estate Manderley in Cornwall. After a whirlwind romance, they marry, and the new Mrs. de Winter moves to Manderley, only to find herself overshadowed by the memory of Maxim’s first wife, Rebecca, who died under mysterious circumstances.
The housekeeper, Mrs. Danvers, is fiercely devoted to Rebecca’s memory and subtly torments the new Mrs. de Winter, constantly reminding her that she can never replace Rebecca. As the protagonist struggles to adjust to her new life, she begins to uncover dark secrets about Rebecca’s true nature and the events leading to her death—revealing shocking truths that threaten to destroy Maxim and Manderley itself
I imagine most bibliophiles have read this but it may have been years ago. I enjoyed it very much. Rebecca is very much in love. There is much miscommunication. Mrs. Danvers is creepy. And there is a murder thrown in as well. All within the beautiful landscape of Cornwall. What;s not to like.
I got back from Bruny Island on Friday late afternoon and Mr P headed off to visit family in Canada the following morning. He was kind enough to organise an early morning uber so I didn’t need to drive him out to the airport in the cold. It was much appreciated.
I will be pet sitting for the next three weeks. I’ll pop in a photo of my charges.
Well there has been more going on but I’ll catch up later. It is getting late. I hope everyone has a good week. Let me know if you’ve read Rebecca and did you like it? Have you also seen the 1940 film adaptation by Alfred Hitchcock? I saw it years ago but I see there is a more recent adaptation on Netflix so will have a look at that.
Cousin Eddie age 11. He was in hospital all week with pancreatitis and inflammation of his bowel. He is a bit of a high stressed boy so quite fragile at times.
Grizzy 8 Very laid back all of the time.
Ollie age 5– Such a big doofus.
Peanut (Peannie) such a little mother to everyone. Bery bright. She is a mixture of Pug, Bichon, Toy poodle, Miniature Poodle and Maltese and 12.5% companion dog unknown.
Travellin' Penguin 